How to Think Bigger in Business and Actually Achieve It
How to Think Bigger in Business and Unlock Real Growth | Jo Renshaw Life Coach, Brighton
A few months ago, my client Danielle set an Impossible Goal and made a decision. To make five million in five years.
Since that moment, we have not been obsessing over tactics or spreadsheets. We have not been hunting for the perfect strategy. We have been doing something far more important; strengthening her identity.
In this article, you will learn why strategy is never the first step in real growth, how emotional state shapes business outcomes, why internal safety determines external expansion, and how your reticular activating system begins filtering for opportunity once your thinking changes. You will also see why it was no surprise to me that after setting a five million dollar goal, Danielle’s fractional CFO friend casually suggested she could build to ten million and sell in five years.
This is not magic. It is mindset mechanics.
Why Thinking Bigger in Business Starts With Identity, Not Strategy
The $5M Goal That Set the Identity Shift in Motion
When Danielle set the five million goal, nothing changed externally that week. The market did not shift. Her portfolio did not double. Revenue did not spike overnight.
What changed was internal.
A number like that requires a different nervous system, a different level of emotional stability, and a different identity.
You cannot operate at five million with the same thinking that built one. The decision itself begins stretching you.
What You’ll Learn in This Article
If you want to grow your business beyond your current ceiling, you need to understand this sequence: state, story, strategy. You need to understand how identity is built through emotional regulation, and why you cannot design your future from your past. And you need to understand how your brain filters for opportunity once your thinking expands.
Because growth is never a strategy problem first. It is an identity one.
State, Story, Strategy; Why “How” Is Always the Last Step
The Brain’s Default Reaction: “I’ve Never Done This Before”
When Danielle’s friend suggested she could acquire more schools and sell for ten million in five years, her brain did exactly what brains do.
“I don’t know if I can do that.”
“I’ve never done it before.”
I said to her, “I’ve never done it before. So what?”
The sequence required for goal achievement, according to Tony Robbins is State, Story, Strategy. Most people want the strategy first. I told her, “Anytime our brain says, ‘I don’t know if I can do this’ or ‘I don’t know how,’ it’s the brain wanting to know the how. And how is actually the very last piece.”
What Tony Robbins Teaches About State Before Strategy
Your state is your emotional condition. If your state is fear, your strategy will be conservative. If your state is scarcity, your strategy will be defensive. If your state is grounded and expansive, your strategy will be creative.
The story you tell yourself about what is happening comes next. Am I out of my depth? Or am I stepping into growth? Am I unqualified? Or am I expanding my capacity?
Only after state and story are aligned does strategy become powerful.
Most people stall because they demand strategy while in a contracted state. They sit at their desk asking for a plan while their nervous system is flooded with doubt.
You cannot build ten million by thinking from fear.
Why Most High Achievers Stall at the ‘How’
High achievers often pride themselves on being strategic. But the obsession with “how” is usually a cover for fear. It is the brain’s attempt to avoid discomfort.
When Danielle stabilised her state, the ten million path stopped feeling absurd. It started feeling like the next logical step.
Strengthening Identity Through Internal Safety
The Real Work Wasn’t Business, It Was Emotional Regulation
Here is the fascinating part. We had not been doing business expansion work directly.
We had been strengthening her internal safety in the context of relationships. She had been learning how to stay present during uncomfortable conversations. She had been practicing noticing fear without reacting. She had been building the capacity to feel negative emotion without trying to control external circumstances.
That is identity work.
Learning to Feel Negative Emotion Without Reacting
I often tell clients, “Don’t try and control external circumstances. Come back and create safety for yourself by the way you’re thinking.”
Internal safety means you can feel uncertainty and not collapse, risk and not retreat, doubt and still take action.
Without that skill, every expansion will feel threatening.
Same Brain, Different Arena
When the ten million opportunity appeared, the emotional pattern was the same as in her relationship. Fear. Uncertainty. The urge to shrink back to something familiar.
But because she had practiced internal safety in one arena, she could access it in another. The brain does not divide your life into neat compartments. How we do one thing is how we do everything.
The same skill that allows you to stay in a vulnerable conversation in your relationship allows you to stay in a bold business decision.
You Cannot Create a New Future by Consulting the Past
Why Your Past Self Cannot Design Your Future
As she spoke about the ten million idea, Danielle began referencing her track record. She had never structured a deal at that scale, or consolidated multiple acquisitions.
I stopped her gently and said, “We can only ever recreate the past by looking at the past.” If you consult your past self to design your future, you will recreate your previous results.
Consulting Your Future Self Instead
Instead, I asked her to go forward. “Go to the future and tell me how you did it. What were the steps you took?”
Then I asked, what obstacles did you face? What did you have to learn? What problems do you have now that I can help you solve earlier?
This is not fantasy thinking. It is Identity Rehearsal. It trains your brain to stabilise at a higher level before the external result arrives.
Identity Rehearsal vs Fantasy Thinking
There is a difference between daydreaming and deliberate expansion. Identity Rehearsal involves anticipating friction, not ignoring it. It acknowledges difficulty while maintaining belief.
That is how you build sustainable growth.
The World Is a Reflection
Your Thoughts Shape What You Notice
Whatever we see in the world in our unique slice of the universe that we have created, be that relationships, money, career or health, it is always a direct reflection of what we think and what we believe.
This is not mystical. It is neurological.
The Reticular Activating System and Opportunity
Your reticular activating system acts as a filter in your brain. It decides what information is relevant enough to bring to your conscious awareness.
When you decide on five million and begin strengthening your identity, your brain starts filtering for alignment with that goal. It notices what’s relevant to your goal and starts showing it to you.
The ten million idea was not newly invented. It was newly visible. The world mirrored her internal shift.
ROI Thinking Requires Emotional Capacity
Expense Thinking vs Expansion Thinking
Hiring a senior operator for the business meant a significant salary commitment. Her brain immediately looked at the current profit statement and tightened.
Fear thinks in terms of expense. Expansion thinks in terms of return.
When you cannot tolerate short term discomfort, you sabotage long term growth.
Tolerating Short-Term Discomfort for Long-Term Leverage
Internal safety allows you to ask a different question. Not can I afford this, but who do I need to become to make this move?
Expansion requires delayed gratification, and a willingness to feel the wobble and proceed anyway.
Without emotional capacity, strategy collapses under pressure.
When the Path Appears
Identity Stabilises Before Opportunity Reveals Itself
“I’ve got tingles that the path is appearing.” I told Danielle. That is what it feels like when identity stabilises at a higher level. The next step does not feel forced. It feels revealed.
Danielle set five million. She strengthened internal safety. She recalibrated her state before demanding strategy. She stopped designing her future from her past.
And then ten million became visible.
The Real Question for You
If you want to think bigger in your business, ask yourself the following questions;
- Are you stabilising your state before demanding strategy?
- Are you willing to feel negative emotion without retreating?
- Are you consulting your past self to design your future?
- What would the future version of you who has already achieved your goal tell you to do next?
Ready to Elevate?
The world is already reflecting your thinking. The only question is whether you are conscious of what you are projecting.
If you are ready to elevate your identity, strengthen your internal safety and build a business that reflects who you are becoming, book a discovery call with me. Let’s look at the level you say you want and the level your nervous system is currently calibrated for.
Because growth is never a strategy problem first.
It is an identity one.
This blog is inspired by the work I do with my clients during sessions, and brought to you in partnership with AI.
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